The Bringer of Life
by Adderwing
Summary: When Lynx Rockwing's best friend dies, she will do everything to get him back. Soon she realizes that if the stories are true, she should be able to bring a living creature into the Underworld and destroy it so that her friend can take its life. PAUSED.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1 ~ TRAPPED**

Lynx swooped through the trees, her wingtips skimming the leaves. Just ahead, a tiger mother fluttered lazily through the shadows, unaware of the approaching danger. Lynx folded her wings and let herself drop a few feet before snapping them open again. The moth was above her now. She beat her wings, quickly rising towards the moth. With snap of her jaws, the moth was in her mouth. It had a slightly chalky taste, but it was one of the hardest insects to catch. It could send out sound pictures of more tiger moths, messing you up unless you used only your sight.

"Hey Lynx! Nice catch!" Flame called, bursting from the trees and coming to flap beside her.

"Thanks. It's no big deal," Lynx added, shrugging.

"Come on, Lynx!" Flame argued. "You know how hard tiger moths are to catch!"

"We should get going," Lynx pointed out, nodding towards the brightening horizon.

"Fine, let's go," Flame said, swooping higher into the sky. "Race you to Tree Haven!"

"You got a head start!" Lynx complained as she raced after him.

"You snooze you lose!" Flame called back over his shoulder. Then he slowed, peering down at the grass. "Look!"

"What is it?" Lynx asked, looking down. Something sparkled in the grass, reflecting the early morning sunlight. Lynx descended slowly and landed in the grass. It was a weird metal contraption that looked like a jaw, lined with sharp metal teeth. Flame landed beside her and reached out his wing to touch it. "Don't!" Lynx exclaimed, but it was too late. With a loud snap, the trap closed down on Flame's left shoulder and wing. He let out a cry of agony as blood began to drip from the wound.

"It hurts!" he wailed, trying to pull free.

"Wait here!" Lynx ordered. "I'll go get our mothers." She leapt into the air, flapping as fast as she could towards Tree Haven. Flame will be alright, she told herself. Her heart pounded as she neared the tree. It was a gigantic birch tree, used as a nursery roost by the Rockwing colony for centuries. There was one tiny knothole, in the middle of the trunk, just big enough for a full grown Rockwing to fit through. Lynx soared through the hole and into the tree, where most of the colony was sharing news or preparing to sleep. Lynx searched the walls of the trunk, and soon she spotted her mother, Jade.

"What is it, Lynx?" Jade asked as Lynx roosted clumsily beside her. "Are you hurt?"

"No! Flame is stuck in some kind of metal jaw!" Lynx wailed. "He's bleeding and he can't get out!"

"Pearl, your son is hurt!" Jade shouted, leaping from her roost and flapping towards another female.

"Flame!" Jade shrieked, dropping from her roost and coming to fly beside Jade. "Where is he?"

"Lynx will show us," Jade said calmly. Lynx held her breath as she lead them out of the tree and into the burning daylight. Even though they could fly freely in the day, they still preferred to hunt at night, when the sun wasn't burning their eyeballs right out of their head. Despite the situation, Lynx let out a tiny laugh at the thought. When they reached the spot where the trap was, the tree bats quickly landed beside it. Flame was sprawled across the ground, his eyes shut and his breathing ragged. His left shoulder was soaked with blood and there was a pool of scarlet on the grass.

"My baby!" Pearl whimpered, burying her face in her son's fur. "Flame! Can you hear me?"

"It hurts so much," Flame mumbled, his voice jittery and slow. "There's already a wound, but then it just keep digging in." He let out a loud whine but stayed completely still.

"What to do?" Pearl wailed. "He's going to die!"

"No he's not," Jade snapped. "Lynx, go get a stick." Lynx took off, and as she scoured the ground for a good stick, she hoped fervently that it was true.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Lynx grabbed a small but thick stick and hauled it into the air. It weighed her down immensely and her flight back to the two anxious mothers was slow and unsteady. She dropped the stick beside the trap and landed beside it. With a jolt she realized that Flame was unconscious. They didn't have much time. Jade pushed the stick between the two sets of teeth and threw her weight on top of it. Pearl and Lynx pushed too, and the metal jaws hinged open just an inch. With her hind foot, Lynx shoved Flame out of the way and they let the trap snap shut again. Flame's shoulder was torn and bloody, and he was barely breathing.

"Please wake up," Pearl whimpered, wrapping her wings around the limp body of her son. He didn't move, not even a tiny twitch of his ear, and Lynx realized that he had stopped breathing.

"We did as much as we could to save him," Jade breathed.

"He won't even get to see his father, or go on his first migration," Pearl murmured, letting her son fall lifelessly to the ground. Lynx stood back, speechless. Feelings of sadness and disbelief mingled inside of her. She shouldn't have let Flame go near the metal trap. And she should have used a stick to open the trap as soon as it snapped shut. It was her fault that her best friend was dead! She took off, blundering blindly through the trees. Nobody would ever forgive her. After what seemed like hours she roosted on a huge branch, panting. It's not your fault, she told herself. He was the one who touched the trap, even after you told him not too. She took a ragged breath and jumped from her roost, turning back in the direction of Tree Haven.

When Lynx entered the huge tree, most of the bats were asleep. Her mother was still gone, so she just roosted in her usual spot. Her fur burned from all the time she had spent in the sun and exhaustion gripped her whole body. With a sigh, she let herself fall into an uncomfortable sleep.

"Wake up Lynx. Time to hunt." It was Jade. Lynx opened her eyes, sighing as the memories rushed back to her. She jumped into the air and flapped out of the knothole. The stars twinkled above and the world was bathed in a silver light. She sent out flashes of sound, trying to push the memories of the day before from her mind. But grief tugged at her heart as she gobbled up insect after insect. Suddenly she spotted a tiger moth, fluttering through the branches. Even her usual excitement at chasing tiger moths was gone. She flapped unenthusiastically towards it, using only her eyes to track it through the darkness. It snapped its wings shut and plummeted earthwards. Lynx folded her wings and dived after it. It had re-opened its wings and was fluttering lazily near the ground. Suddenly it began rocking and spinning, as if some unseen force was shoving it back and forth. Then, it slowly started sinking towards the ground. Lynx dipped even lower, and spotted a huge crevice in the smooth, moonlit pebbles. It was almost as if the air was being sucked into the crack. Lynx's muscles ached as she fought the current, glad it wasn't stronger. The moth was sucked in and disappeared. Lynx landed near the crack, grasping the pebbles as she shuffled towards the hole. She remembered the stories her mother had told her, long ago before she could hunt, when she clung to her mother's belly, drinking sweet, creamy milk.

Daylight was pouring through the knothole, making her eyes twitch. But she had insisted that her mother tell her a story before she went to sleep. Jade had sighed, then agreed. "A very long time ago," her mother had began. "There was a Silverwing named Shade. He brought back the bats' freedom to fly in daylight, but his adventures didn't end there. His son was sucked into the Underworld through a hole deep underground. Down under there, the dead bats could steal the living bats' life and become living themselves! Shade went down to save his son, and they travelled to a huge tree, which Nocturna created for all the good bats, so they could be happy in their death. But in the end, Shade gave his life to save his son and his son's friend."

Now, Lynx stared down at the crevice, thinking. What if she followed that moth in, and gave its life to Flame? Hope flickered inside her, then vanished. She would have to find him first, then survive the treacherous journey to the tree. It couldn't be done. Could it?


End file.
